Santa Fe: Enrichment for Kids

Our Local Expert Says:

Hands down, the best spot to kill some time with the kiddos in Santa Fe. The cool hands-on exhibits encourage interactive discovery, like making magnet bridges, building sculpture from recycled materials, and learning about the laws of physics through a giant bubble machine. Bonus: There's also a climbing wall.

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If you are traveling with children, and they become bored with the historic sites in and around Santa Fe, this is a great way to lift their spirits. The museum is packed with hands-on exhibits like a climbing wall, obstacle course, bubbles, music, and a working greenhouse featuring daily scavenger hunts. For the fearless, there are even snakes on exhibit. The gift shop has an array of educational toys, puzzles and games.

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Upper Crust serves some of Santa Fe's best pizzas, in an adobe house near the old San Miguel Mission. The atmosphere is plain, with wooden tables; in summer, the outdoor patio overlooking Old Santa Fe Trail is more inviting. Meals-in-a-dish include the Grecian gourmet pizza (feta and olives) and the whole-wheat vegetarian pizza (topped with sesame seeds). You can either eat here or request free delivery (it takes about 30 min.) to your downtown hotel. Beer and wine are available, as are salads, calzones, sandwiches, and stromboli.

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Located at the Santa Fe Community College, this planetarium educates the public about the stars and space in general. Special programs are often scheduled, but the main attraction is the show that is held on the first Thursday of each month. This exhibition displays the current position of the stars overhead. Children are encouraged to attend.

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This cozy little strip mall Mexican restaurant sends you on a mealtime journey to Old Mexico where the tacos are served in soft-shells, and cilantro is a staple spice. At Felipe's Tacos, the salsa bar gives you a choice of red or green salsa, pico de gallo and chopped onion, radishes, and slices of lime. The "del mar" seafood dishes are especially tasty. The kitchen is health-conscious and uses no lard. Vegetarian dishes are also available. Viva la comida de Mexico!

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Designed to look like a neighborhood, this inn provides the efficient stay you'd expect from a Marriott, and a renovation in 2006 brought freshness to the rooms and some common areas. It's a 10-minute drive away from the plaza, through a few quiet neighborhoods. The lobby and breakfast area are warmly decorated in tile, with a fireplace and Southwestern accents such as bancos and drums. There are three sizes of suites, each roomy, each with a fully equipped kitchen. All rooms have fireplaces and balconies and are decorated with Southwestern furnishings. Outside, there are plenty of amenities to keep family members happy, including barbecue grills on the patio. Most who stay here are leisure travelers, but you'll also encounter some government workers and business travelers, all of whom benefit from free high-speed Internet access. Guests gather for complimentary hors d'oeuvres Monday through Wednesday from 5 to 6:30pm.

Our Local Expert Says:

A spur line that connects Santa Fe with the main Amtrak line 15 miles south at Lamy, the Southern Railway runs daily sightseeing trains through the high desert, with a stop in Lamy for a picnic lunch. Holiday and sunset trains are available, too. And if it's a nice day, you can stand out on the open car and watch the scenery go by.

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"Riding the old Santa Fe" always referred to riding the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. Ironically, the main route of the AT&SF bypassed Santa Fe, which probably forestalled some development for the capital city. A spur was run off the main line to Santa Fe in 1880, and today, an 18-mile ride along that spur offers views of some of New Mexico's most spectacular scenery.

The Santa Fe Depot is a well-preserved tribute to the Mission architecture that the railroad brought to the West in the early 1900s. Characterized by light-colored stuccoed walls, arched openings, and tiled roofs, this style was part of an architectural revolution in Santa Fe at a time when builders snubbed the traditional pueblo style.

Inside the restored coach, passengers are surrounded by aged mahogany and faded velvet seats. The train snakes through Santa Fe and into the Galisteo Basin, broad landscapes spotted with piñon and chamisa, with views of the Sandia and Ortiz mountains. Arriving in the small track town of Lamy, you get another glimpse of a Mission-style station, this one surrounded by spacious lawns where passengers picnic. Check out the sunset rides on weekends and specialty trains throughout the...

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If you have eaten dinner at any local restaurant and had the tamales, chances are that they came from here. This company began by creating gourmet tamales for other establishments. The high demand for these delicacies brought about the restaurant. The variety of fillings used for the tamales here is amazing. You can choose Pine Nut Tamales flavored with cilantro or Goat Cheese Tamales flavored with fresh mint as well as many others. The service is great and in warm weather you can sit on the patio and enjoy the scenery.

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This hike travels by both the Hyde Memorial State Park and the Black Canyon campgrounds. The Black Canyon section of the trail intersects with a trail that crosses the meadow from the fenced area behind site 41. The trail has and incline that gains 855 feet in the first 0.94 miles. However, hikers who stick it out are rewarded with spectacular views.

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Take a break from the trendy, crowded downtown restaurants and sink your teeth into authentic food cooked by a native New Mexican chef. Everything on the menu at PC's Restaurant and Lounge is homemade, right down to the mini tortillas and the green chile salsa. A children's theater keeps the little ones entertained on weekends. The full-service bar offers award-winning margaritas made with Cuervo Especial. They perfectly complement the restaurant's chips and salsa, which rate as the best in Santa Fe.

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Bite into the healthy, yet massive sandwiches at the Chocolate Maven Bakery and Cafe, but save room for the baked desserts behind the counter. Salads, with a myriad of dressing choices like fresh raspberry vinaigrette, are crispy and fresh, while the grilled sandwiches are a local favorite. House-recipe pizzas are made before your eyes and are baked in old, slate ovens. The bakery is known as the official doughnut supplier of a number of local businesses.

Our Local Expert Says:

Up on gorgeous Museum Hill, the Folk Art delights with some of the best views in town from Milner Plaza. Inside, its eclectic collection of global crafts is the largest in the world. metal objects from Africa, beadwork from South America, and potter from throughout the Americas. The on-site shop is the city's best bet for gifts.

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This branch of the Museum of New Mexico may not seem quite as typically Southwestern as other Santa Fe museums, but it's the largest of its kind in the world. With a collection of some 130,000 objects from more than 100 countries, it's my favorite city museum, well worth an hour or two of perusing. It was founded in 1953 by the Chicago collector Florence Dibell Bartlett, who said, "If peoples of different countries could have the opportunity to study each other's cultures, it would be one avenue for a closer understanding between men." That's the basis on which the museum operates today.

The special collections include Spanish colonial silver, traditional and contemporary New Mexican religious art, Mexican tribal costumes and majolica ceramics, Brazilian folk art, European glass, African sculptures, and East Indian textiles. Particularly delightful are numerous dioramas of people around the world at work and play in typical town, village, and home settings.

Children love to look at the hundreds of toys on display throughout the museum, many of which are from a collection donated in 1982 by Alexander Girard, a notable architect and interior designer, and his wife, Susan. The couple spent...

Description:

If you are really hungry and fancy some solid food, Bobcat Bite is just the place to visit. Try the famous Green Chile Cheeseburger, or go in for a steak. Bobcat Bite has been around since 1953. Why that name? Because bobcats from the neighboring mountains were fed regularly at the doorstep of this eatery! It has retained its unique rustic charm as well as its loyal clientele. Great food and service, a vibrant ambiance, and affordable prices make eating here an experience worth repeating. Remember to carry cash as no credit cards are accepted.